The Memory of a Fallen Flower
by TheWhoufflePrincess
Summary: Queen Victoria's final moments as Queen, under the gaze of her eldest son, Edward and her eldest grandson, Wilhelm. An imagine of how Queen Victoria may be thinking of her dearest Albert during her final minutes, her mind thinking about everything that has transposed between the two royal lovers. Albert x Victoria, Vicbert.


I do hope I don't offend anybody with this. I am terrible at stories, let alone things serious as this. I do the royal family no justice with this story, but I decided to make it regardless. Enjoy!

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The night sky seemed to reciprocate the feelings that were held in the Osborne household. Though it was a customary that the Queen chose to come to this house every Christmas and New Years, every occupant in the household knew what was to come. Rheumatism had already came for the aged Queen and it was only a matter of time before the worst would come. Edward and Wilhelm accompanied her during this evening, as they started to do ever since Her Majesty started to speak about feeling unwell. They looked to the Queen in her black nightgown, as she chose to wear all black after her husband's passing. Even now, she looked absolutely radiant.

"Mama, do you need anything?" Edward, or Bertie, as the royal family called the eldest son of Victoria, asked her gently, clasping his hands together tightly. Wilhelm was also with him and did the same gesture. Victoria looked at him, shuddered slightly, then glanced to Wilhelm. Edward noticed, but gave no comment.

"I ask only for you to bring me Turi." Victoria murmured at the two men standing between her. Wilhelm, the man at the left of her large bed nodded, leaving to return with the white Pomeranian in his arms. He set the dog down at his grandmother's bed and watched as Victoria stroked the young dog in her arms. Wilhelm returned to his position and looked at his grandmother.

"Thank you for bringing Dash, Wilhelm." Wilhelm frowned at Victoria's thanks. It was clear her confusions were still quite a thing.

"I think you mean Turi." Wilhelm corrected her. Edward shot him an irritated glance, as if Wilhelm's words were absolutely vile. Victoria only smiled with a bittersweet look in her eyes and Edward softened.

"My apologizes. I had forgotten. Dash has passed on already." Victoria sighed, "Turi is a bit like Dash, in mannerisms, they are quite similar." Victoria started, looking down at the Pomeranian that lay still at Victoria's touch. "Though, every time I think of Dash, I am only reminded of _Albert_ instead of another pet." Edward and Wilhelm exchanged a look of uncertainty before looking back down at the Queen in her bed. It was clear she was slipping from the grasp of reality.

"My dearest, dearest Albert." She said once more, with feeling, "I wish you were with me. It is not fair that I had witnessed your final moments, but you do not witness mine." The world seemed to corner in on this moment and this moment alone. Victoria seemed to have forgotten the two men standing beside her bed as she continued to speak towards the door of her chambers, staring directly at it, as if someone was to come inside at any moment. "If you had lived, we'd be standing beside the legacy we have created together, rather than dying at the age of fourty-two, cut off at the prime of your life."

Edward grimaced. He recalled his father's death vividly, as Victoria blamed him for it. He himself could not blame Victoria for doing so. Edward was irresponsible and a fool during that time and Albert traveled to reprimand him.

His Papa Albert, however, did not reprimand the young Edward with words, but with his _life_.

An impression that shook the entire royal family to its core. Edward, since then, promised to be the student Albert and Victoria wanted. Question was, would it be enough? The Queen was dying right in front of him. Would he be worthy to hold the crown?

"Do you like them?" Victoria's words broke through Edward's thoughts. "The memorials I have made for you, my dear? The traditions I have set to make sure your memory stays alive? How many years has it been since you have passed on, my love? I've started to lose count." She let out a shaky breath as her mind fantasied her angel, standing at the edge of the bed wearing the same clothes he had worn when Victoria was only eighteen. Though Edward and Wilhelm could not see the man she was thinking of, she spoke to it as if he was reality.

"Your ambitions flowed like a river and your words were as strong as the man who spoke it." The hand that was caressing Turi was shaking now. "You were the greatest man I ever knew. You still are. You assured me every time I was afraid and kept me on my feet. _Now my feet are useless with your departure_."

Edward winced, his eyes narrow.

"I must admit, I was quite temperamental as a young woman. I wonder how you kept up with me all those years. Lord M and Lehzen were the only other people who could work with me. How you still loved me after it all still boggles my mind. You always seemed to have the drive to please me and me alone. I did too." She smiled again, "You allowed me to lean on you on times of hardship and continued to be the person I could count on, all the way until your death." The image that was at the foot of her bed changed and it was still Albert, but when they had gotten married. His beautiful outfit of red, adorned with the different jewelries and such. He looked so dashing, the pinnacle of perfect in Victoria's aged eyes.

"I had once said that you and I were not suited together, how you had no manners at all." She chuckled again, "But you were always right. You gave me the truth rather than the flattery I had desired during my brand new position. You opened my eyes to the rise of the world and of what it had to offer, while I opened your heart to experiences you never knew. We weren't just suited together, we were _made for one another_ , if anything." A long period of silence came, but none of the three occupants of the room broke it. Victoria stopped petting Turi and placed her hands on her lap. Victoria seemed to jump from subject to subject, but each word was for Albert.

"Would you still love me as I am now? You liked me unbound and less Queen-like before. Now, I am confused and weak, despite the fact I wish I was not." She murmured, "I have difficulty in seeing and old age has taken my life, making it quite melancholic. Life is quite taxing nowadays. Wealth and power seem like nothing when love is gone with the wind."

Edward frowned. Wilhelm inhaled a sharp breath. The air was tense now.

"I wonder how things would be different if I had died first. To think, the thing to have killed me was not by a bullet nor childbirth, just old age as it is, the last thing I was afraid of." Her voice was just merely a whisper now. "Perhaps if I had passed on first, your world would be dwindling bit by bit. You always did proclaim that I was everything to you. My world is and always has been chipping away since your death. To look into your eyes again and to hear you say that you love me once more. Perhaps kiss me again? Or maybe to even hear you play a beautiful melody on the piano. Oh, how I dream of it."

"But _mien liebling_ , I am here." Victoria blinked, shocked to hear her beloved's voice once more. She looked around her, between Edward and Wilhelm, who both were still. She blinked again and found her angel standing beside her bed now, rather than at the foot of her bed. This time, he was fully animated, wearing the Windsor outfit that looked exceptionally wonderful on him. Memories of their first dance together came to her. "I have always been here for you, never have I once left your side even after I had gone ahead."

"Albert?" Her voice quivered as he extended his hand towards Victoria. "Bertie?"

Edward and Wilhelm exchanged another glance. Was she speaking towards Albert, her husband, or Edward? The Queen was fading away, fast now, the two knew.

"Will you accompany me with one last dance?" Albert asked. Her own hand rose, though her corporal body remained still. She found her body to be young again as Albert took her away from the bed. Her skin was soft and pale, like white orchids. She was wearing the outfit during their first dance, her hair pinned up the same way it had been during that magical night as she had remembered it.

Her beautiful angel led her towards the small space that was between the door of the room and the foot of the bed. They stood, inches away from each other. Victoria raised her right arm and Albert trailed his hand, starting from her shoulder to meet her right hand and held it up. His other hand snaked around her waist to touch the small of her back. The slow pacing was exact to how it was previously. Victoria smiled, but it was bittersweet, looking up at her love. She let her left arm stay perfectly still as the two waltzed in perfect harmony.

"You still dance beautifully." She commented to him as she leaned back into his hand and he spun her around elegantly, with precision.

"I've told you before, the rhythm is not difficult to find with _you_ as my partner." She came back up and placed her hand onto his arm. This moment was legendary, but impossible, she knew it. Victoria may be confused and not of a young age now, but her mind was sharp like a sword. They had suddenly paused in their dancing, as Victoria stopped and searched his young face for reassurance that it was merely a dream. She did not find it.

"What ever is the matter, my dear?" He asked, unsure as to why she had stopped in their waltz.

"I have died, haven't I?" Albert only nodded, bringing her right covered hand towards his lips and kissed it. He looked to her.

"But I am here and you will not be alone. Soon, our children will join us as well. Everything will be alright, Victoria. Our love can face anything we are forced into." He said, looking into her eyes and giving her a rare smile. He leaned in and gave her a kiss. It felt real, exactly how she remembered. His lips and tongue, passionate, yet so gentle, like the words he spoke during their fits of passion.

They let go and Victoria glanced towards the bed where her corporeal body lay, her eyes closed for eternity now. She had breathed her last breath just a minute or two ago. Edward and Wilhelm did not move from their positions, despite the fact that they thought they should. The white Pomeranian was looking at Victoria, unsure why her master was still.

"She's gone, isn't she?" Wilhelm asked, his voice barely higher than a whisper. It was a gentle question, but it held so much meaning. Edward only nodded in response. "Shall I inform the house?"

"No. Not yet. Please." Edward uttered, his hands now clenched into fists. Victoria looked back to Albert.

"Let us leave the matters of the living to the living." Albert said, stepping back from his Queen and offered his arm, which she took. " _Mein Liebes, ich werde so glücklich sein, mein Leben mit dir zu bringen_." Victoria smiled. He had said that before, back when it was their engagement night. His words, though repeated, made Victoria's heart swell with everlasting joy.

"Take me away, my angel." Victoria whispered and he complied, as the two walked and phased through the chamber's doors, going about their days together for eternity.

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Translations:

Mein Liebes, ich werde so glücklich sein, mein Leben mit dir zu bringen: My love, I will be so happy to spend my life with you.

Mein liebling: my darling.

again, I tried what I can and this is probably not how the beloved Queen Victoria actually passed away as, but I imagined it to be this way if it were in a drama. I do hope it is to someone's satisfaction.


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